In recent years, portable electronic devices have become increasingly popular. Consequently, the sliding mechanism of the portable electronic device is designed to have diversified forms and functions. For example, a sliding mechanism for use in a portable electronic device is disclosed in Taiwanese Patent No. M390622. Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic exploded view illustrating a sliding mechanism disclosed in Taiwanese Patent No. M390622. As shown in FIG. 1, the sliding mechanism 10 comprises a main plate 20, two elastic elements 30 and a sliding plate 40. The main plate 20 comprises a main plate body 21, two guiding grooves 22, two liners 23 and a guider 24. The sliding plate 40 comprises a sliding plate body 41, two guiding rails 42, two sliding slots 43 and two positioning holes 44.
Please refer to FIG. 1 again. The guiding grooves 22 of the main plate 20 are arranged at bilateral sides of the main plate 20. The guiding grooves 22 are U-shaped structures that are bent from two opposite edges of the main plate 20. The guiding grooves 22 are configured to accommodate the liners 23 and the guiding rails 42 of the sliding plate 40. In such way, the sliding plate 40 is stably slid with respect to the main plate 20 and difficultly detached from the main plate 20. The elastic elements 30 are disposed within the sliding slots 43 of the sliding plate 40. An end of each elastic element 30 is fixed in a corresponding positioning hole 44. The other end of each elastic element 30 is sustained against a corresponding guiding part 242 of the guider 24.
Please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a schematic top view illustrating the operations of the sliding mechanism disclosed in Taiwanese Patent No. M390622. When the sliding plate body 41 is slid with respect to the main plate body 21 for a predetermined distance, the resisting action of the elastic elements 30 on the guiding part 242 may cause the elastic elements 30 to accumulate the maximum elastic potential energy. When the sliding plate body 41 is slid with respect to the main plate body 21 for a distance over the predetermined distance, the resisting action of the elastic elements 30 on the guiding part 242 will be weakened because of the shape change of the guider 24. Consequently, the elastic elements 30 release the accumulated elastic potential energy. Under this circumstance, the purpose of automatically sliding the sliding plate body 41 with respect to the main plate body 21 is achieved.
The conventional sliding mechanism 10, however, still has some drawbacks. For example, since the guiding grooves 22 and the guiding rails 42 are designed to confine the sliding trajectory of the main plate 20 and the sliding plate 40, the configurations of the main plate 20 and the sliding plate 40 are complicated. In addition, since it is necessary to install the liners 23 within the guiding grooves 22 to allow for smooth sliding action of the main plate 20 and the sliding plate 40, the assembling cost of the sliding mechanism 10 is largely increased.